Sunday, September 19, 2010

Low FODMAPs Diet, Primal Thoughts, Etc.

Hi All,

So, I have been rather neglectful of my blog updating lately. This is what I've been up to.

I started on the Low FODMAPs diet this week, after a week where I was supposed to be tracking my baseline symptoms...but was actually REALLY sick (I think I somehow ingested some accidental gluten).

Here's some useful information on the diet:

Patsy Catsos' site. She wrote "IBS - Free At Last," which I ordered off amazon, and am using as a guide to my diet. Found the site to be a bit confusing to navigate through, but I appreciate the information she has given: http://www.ibsfree.net/

This is a great little summary of the diet/concept of eating low FODMAPs foods: http://fodmaps.yolasite.com/fodmap-diet.php


Anyway, look into it if you're interested. It caught my attention, since I react to some really random things, such as beans (not so surprising I guess), wheat, dairy, some fruits, sweeteners...you get the gist. This makes a lot of sense.

So, other than making my meal plans, which I plan on posting eventually, I have been distracted by another way of eating.

I mean Primal.

I'm making my way through Mark Sisson's "Primal Blueprint," which is blowing my mind and getting me all sorts of excited! I'm also reading as much online stuff as I can, ie, blogs. Been frequenting Mark's blog, Mark's Daily Apple, and I just found The Primal Matriarch's awesome site over the weekend, which I've been immersed in.

So many great ideas, so many incredible recipes! What's a girl to do?

How about win a free book over here, to further distract herself? Lol. Just got my copy of "The Pirate Queen" today, and started reading it over dinner. This is why I am choosing to type excuses tonight, rather than type up my meal plan for the week.

Anyway, hope everyone else is having a great week!

7 comments:

Naina said...

So, you didn't really say if the FODMAPS diet is working for you?

I ordered the book too. I am doing well on the elimination diet!
I am excited that maybe this will finally be the answer to my IBS-C issues.

I do have other issues of intolerance's that limit my diet even more, eggs, gluten, MSG, I have to limit yeast, and fermented foods.

I do hate that my diet is so limited, however I am still excited to hope for a complete remission of my IBS!

I will have to look into the Primal diet too. I am curious, does it work well with the allowed FODMAPS foods?

Thanks for the update. :)

trishtator said...

I've only read a little bit on the FODMAPs diet, but I hope it helps you make some progress!

Stephanie said...

Naina,
I'm not sure how the diet's working for me yet. I'm 5 days into it, and still having some gas/cramping. But I'm determined to stick it out the 2 weeks, and see how I do after that.

The food I'm eating is good, if a bit limited, but there are a lot of things on the "allowed" list that I was under the impression were not IBS-safe. So I've modified my meal plan a bit. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Primal diet is a whole different ballgame, although I think it could really work once you know which FODMAPs foods to avoid. I really feel like it makes sense to me, to live like our ancestors did. Add to that the fact that I am gluten intolerant, as well as hypoglycemic, and grains are the biggest Primal red flag...I don't know how to explain, but I agree with the concepts behind the diet, and the lifestyle in general.

FODMAPs was my first step to feeling better, but I plan on transitioning into the Primal way of life once I know what additional foods I need to avoid.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Wow thanks for mentioning this, I downloaded the synopsis of the plan and it looks very interesting. Aside from the usual cerelas, dairy etc I can't tolerate a lot of fruits and veg either like brassicas,bananas and avocados. I'm interested in investigating what other fruits and veg might aggravate me so this might be well worth a read. I know I can't handle too much fructose anyway, the fruit salad I had the last day confirmed that one for me lol. Hope you feel better soon pet, IBS sucks :( x.

Corliss said...

Have you found that dining out isn't as enjoyable as it was before you went gluten and dairy free?

I began my gluten free diet about 3 years ago when my son was diagnosed with severe gluten allergies. Then believe it or not we discovered I also have a wheat allergy but it isn't severe like his.

Anyway, now that I am gluten, dairy and sugar free "Hypoglycemia", dining out is no longer as enjoyable.

Guess I'll have to change my perception of dining out and simply enjoy being with family and friends.

Stephanie said...

FF&F - Sorry for not responding sooner! You sound a lot like me. The list I have is exhausting sometimes! I hope you find this diet info informative. I didn't really notice much difference after 2 weeks on the "baseline" diet, so I didn't pursue the challenges. But I eliminated it, so it wasn't a total waste. I ate a lot of good food on the baseline diet too, which wasn't too bad. It was just very time consuming to get things prepared. I've been too busy lately to deal with such a strict eating plan anyway.

I am still really leaning toward the primal "diet" though. Just haven't found the time or energy to do a purge of my fridge and pantry. However, I am feeling moderately better, simply by avoiding a lot of the things I know I'm sensitive to.


Corliss - Yes, I really do find it difficult eating out with multiple foods to avoid! My hubby and I stick to a few favorite places, and usually I end up cheating just a little bit on the dairy/sugar avoidance, since they don't *always* bother me in small amounts.

When I was just eating GF, eating out was a lot easier, once I found places that catered to gluten free dining.

We probably eat out twice a month. We're trying to cut back on expenses, and this one seemed justified in more than one way. My husband still eats out probably once or twice a week (fast food), but as long as I'm prepared with meals and stocked cupboards, I am not usually tempted to do so as well. It does help to look at it as a healthier and more frugal choice though, otherwise I sometimes get jealous :)